LOS ANGELES, Feb 10 — For Warner Bros.' new release Birds of Prey, the weekend brought good and bad news: It took in an estimated US$33.3 million (RM137.8 million) to lead the North American box office, but fared poorly for a superhero movie.

The three-day estimate, from industry watcher Exhibitor Relations, marked one of the lowest domestic launches in years for a studio superhero film, according to Hollywood Reporter.

The film, starring Margot Robbie as former Joker girlfriend Harley Quinn, has drawn generally strong reviews. Young Chinese-American director Cathy Yan won a special Sundance award for her debut film, dark comedy Dead Pigs.

Sony's action comedy Bad Boys for Life, with Will Smith and Martin Lawrence as wise-cracking detectives, slipped just one notch after topping the box office for three straight weeks, taking in US$12 million.

Those two movies might have suffered a bit because this is Academy Award weekend, and viewers showed renewed interest in movies vying for the best-film Oscar yesterday, starting with favourite 1917.

The wrenching and technically impressive war film from director Sam Mendes earned US$9 million for the weekend, down only slightly from the week before.

In fourth was another Universal picture, Dolittle, based on the children's book about a veterinarian who can talk to animals. With a cast headed by Robert Downey Jr. and Emma Thompson, it took in US$6.7 million.

And in fifth, one spot up from the previous week, was Sony's Jumanji: The Next Level, at US$5.5 million. It has Dwayne (The Rock) Johnson and Kevin Hart being plunged back into a dangerous video game world. Rounding out the top 10 were:

The Gentlemen (US$4.2 million)

Gretel and Hansel (US$3.5 million)

Knives Out (US$2.4 million)

Little Women (US$2.3 million)

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (US$2.2 million) — AFP-Relaxnews